Yesterday I accepted an offer to fill a vacancy for the rest of their school year, which ends in July, at Monroe School, a small private school NE Washington DC. It is a VERY DIFFERENT environment. If I may quote from the school’s mission statement:
The Monroe School, a private day school is committed to educating youth by fostering academic excellence in students experiencing academic and behavioral problems by utilizing a holistic approach. Our program is designed to teach students adaptive ways to manage stress and develop coping mechanism as a means to improve academic performance and reduce aggression in school and in the community. This is accomplished through integrating specialized education and mental health services. Providing wrap-around services, to include on-site mental health services for students and family members which is critical to the school’s success.
The Monroe School will provide its students with a diploma-based, college-preparatory program with courses, activities and technical skills that will prepare them for a swift transition to college, vocational training, or the work world. The Monroe School promotes an alliance among students, parents, faculty, and community organizations to produce self -sufficient, life long learners.
Below I will explain why I took this offer and a bit more about my experiences in my visits there, now totaling three, including teaching a 45 minute sample lesson.
The job is only for the rest of this year because in private schools all teachers are on a year to year basis.
I have in no way made any decision about where I teach the following school year — this gives both sides a chance to try it out, and to help the children who need a social studies teacher. At the same time I have the flexibility to continue to explore opportunities in other settings, including if necessary taking the time to interview/teach sample lessons.
And technically it is not official until I can demonstrate that I can pass a background check, perhaps a drug test, and show I do not have TB. We are hoping that DC Public Schools will allow the founder/head of school to have access to my having passed those tests within the year for them, so that we do not have to go through it again. I will see my physician and get a tb test today. Hopefully I will be in the classroom on Monday.
So why Monroe, which is VERY DIFFERENT than my last gig at Hayfield Secondary School in Fairfax County, where I was teaching only Advanced Placement courses?
Well, for one thing, this will bring in immediate income including during the summer, which alleviates any financial pressures. But by itself that would be an insufficient reason.
This is a special education school, and while I have taught kids who qualify, including in multi-level classes with a special educator as co-teacher, I am not a special educator: I took the one mandatory course required for licensure in Maryland. The key disability of students with whom I interacted is emotional disturbances / lack of emotional control. I actually have some experience in working with such students who were in a general education setting in the two charter schools in which I taught.
It is very expensive to educate students like the population at Monroe. Some have full-time dedicated aides. The school provides among other things school-based mental health services. The man who coordinates that program, and who is also a licensed administrator for DC schools, is a very impressive person, and was a key reason I was willing to take this on.
Too often students like the population at Monroe get warehoused, and at best can hope eventually for a GED. Our students are expected to complete a regular academic program and get a regular diploma.
Our students need lots of individual attention. Imagine classes of no more than 7 and in some cases fewer often with two or more adults in the room. When I taught my sample lesson last Wednesday, I started with five students, one of whom has her individual aide who travels with her to every class. She does not handle change well, and decided about 5 minutes in she was not going to stay and left. That left me with four students, three around the table where I was and one at a desk about ten feet away. I made sure to get all their names to interact with them immediately on a personal basis. There were a lot of interruptions, but so long as they were generally on topic I allowed them, because it showed a certain amount of interest by the students, a willingness to engage with me.
They asked me up front whether I was a substitute or their new teacher. When I explained that the head of school wanted to see how I did with them, one of the boys remarked about they should get a voice in who the new teacher would be, and whether or not they realized it, their decision to interact with me and do largely what I asked was precisely giving them voice.
The school is tiny. It has 24 students. I have at times taught 6 classes at a time each of which had more than 24 students. My teacher load is far less. But the amount of individualization I will have to do for each students is far greater.
It is expensive to educate like this. Most of the students are place because DC Public schools cannot provide the setting they need, and thus pays for their placement. But even the private placements at parent initiative do not necessarily create a heavy burden on the families, as the school seeks outside money to cover their costs.
The school pays far less than DCPS, and somewhat less than do many other charters. It cannot at this time provide benefits. Despite that, its teaching staff sticks around, with most of my compatriots having been their at least 5 years. The vacancy I am filling only exists because the woman who is my predecessor is now at a point where she needs benefits, and took advantage of an in-year position opening that offered them. I don’t need benefits, because I am covered under my wife’s very good health care (which includes dental and vision) and already have a pension and social security.
It will be a challenge, the place will stretch me (which is good), and I am looking forward to it.
The head of school knows I writes, and actually would like me to write about what is going on there, so you can expect to see occasional posts here. But then, I have written about my teaching all of the time I have been at Daily Kos, a period that now stretches back more than 11 years.
Meanwhile, I will continue to explore other options for next year as well. Saturday I attended a fair at Prince Georges County Public Schools, where I taught for 15.5 years and from which I retired in 2012. Each candidate could visit up to three schools. As it turned out, unbeknownst to me in two of the cases before I went, the heads of school were all people with whom I had worked. Obviously going to the school where I taught for 13 years I was expecting that. They don’t currently have a listed social studies opening, but I am sure would grab me if they did. The other two, a high school and a middle school, had openings but they had already made tentative commitments before I interviewed with them. I am highly recommended to the school system, but normally former employees cannot get advanced contracts (which guarantee the offer of a job by June 30 but which do not commit the employee — I have had them twice before in two other school systems). However the man who is now the head of HR is someone I have known since I first came to the school system in December 1995. When he found out I might have to make a commitment in the next few days (about which more in a moment) he set in process getting my previous records checked so that he could possibly offer me an advanced contract. He directed one of the top people in the department to pull my records and get back to him. The school system is closed today, so we will see the results of that.
Meanwhile, yesterday I went to an open house at a DC High School that has been “reconstituted” because its performance was too low. The building has also been entirely redone. The administration does not yet know its openings for next year, but expects to have them in every core department including social studies. The redone building is gorgeous. The school also has a strong environmental component, including rainwater capture for running its toilets and for using in the food it grows (that is not a mistake. It also has a culinary arts program in which students can get summer jobs in restaurants around DC). The key program for the students is based on global studies, including a focus on environmental justice.
The principal came in during the latter part of last year. The program has just begun. This was an informal session telling us about the school, giving us a tour, and having informal interviews. There were four administrators including the principal involved, and I got to speak with all four. I was quite impressed with the direction of their program, which is going to include cross-registration at no cost to the students for courses at Georgetown University (there is a transportation issue to be resolved). While the school focuses on being the local school of choice for its neighborhood (Petworth), it will also draw some students from outside its local area. One unique thing is they have an arrangement with an in-school clinic which can address all of the basic medical AND DENTAL (remember, I volunteer in free dental clinics) needs of the students. Of course, they cannot be sure how the proposed AHCA might impact that part of their program.
I made clear I was quite interested in what they were doing. My sense is that they were also quite impressed with me. The woman who primarily interviewed me commented several times on my passion for and commitment to my students. When i was asked about my ideal school setting, I said that I wanted to be able to take risks for my students, knowing that not everything would work, but would take ownership of my mistakes, in the process teaching students about going outside the box. That seemed to resonate.
They will not even know openings until towards the end of this month, and the hiring cycle is probably more towards late April at the earliest. But I would seriously consider them.
Meanwhile I am pending at a relatively new high school in Loudoun County, but that is almost 30 miles from my house, and the pay there is less than I would get in DCPS, and much less than I would get in Prince George's, or Arlington, where I live. It is about the same as I would get in a DC charter, and a bit more than most independent schools. What is nice is that Virginia schools did not do Common Core or the associated tests, and Virginia after this year is dropping its own Standards of Learning tests and moving towards performance based assessments.
Meanwhile, today I will talk by phone with the principal of a very interesting DC charter school that intuitively I know is a superb fit for me. I do not know if they even know if they have an opening. The head of school is a fellow Haverford alum, which is how the connection was made. I think of all the schools I know about I might most like to teach there. It is about 11 miles from my house and in an emergency could be reached via public transportation. The school last night is about ten miles from me, and is similarly situated with respect to public transportation.
Monroe School is not that easily accessible via public transportation. It is about 15 miles from my house.
The school at which I taught for 13 years used to be a 25 mile drive. ARRA enabled some rebuilding of road patterns in DC so that it is now 21.5 miles from my house. For two years I drove 45 miles each way to near Baltimore. I am now 70, going on 71 in May. I’d like my commute to be shorter.
Which is why unless I am signed, sealed and delivered for next year, I will also go to the Arlington County Public Schools Fair on March 25. It is very hard to get into Arlington Schools, but I will try. After all, I already serve on the school board advisory committee for social studies. There are 5 secondary schools within a 1.5 mile walk from my home.
So that is where I am at. At least for the next few months I am back in the classroom. I will again be bringing money into the household. And I still have some interesting prospects for the following school year, including the school at which I will be beginning as soon as the paperwork is approved.
I feel blessed.
Peace.